"You don't always have to go so far as to murder your darlings – those turns of phrase or images of which you felt extra proud when they appeared on the page – but go back and look at them with a very beady eye. Almost always it turns out that they'd be better dead. (Not every little twinge of satisfaction is suspect – it's the ones which amount to a sort of smug glee you must watch out for."
"Writing shouldn't come between the reader and what's being described. It should be as transparent as possible."
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Source: 'Getting things right'. www.theguardian.com. January 5, 2008.
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"Read it aloud to yourself because that's the only way to be sure the rhythms of the sentences are OK."
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